|
Gas or Oil Heat? Gas or oil 1. New oil-fired burners. Known plusses - efficient, cheaper capital cost (c. $1K each) Minuses - still stuck with ancient boilers and wierd tankless hotwater systems, still using oil (local minuses - smell and dirt, large tank; global ones - offshore resource, price could go up (cheap now), more greenhouse gas(?)) 2. New gas-fired boiler and separate hot-water heaters. Plusses - very efficient, cleaner, smaller, new, gas line so I can cook with it too. Minuses - capital cost ($5K each), fuel cost, safety (? on the last one; sleeping on c.800 gallons of fuel oil isnt confidence inspiring either) Hybrid also possible (new oil-fired everything) but just as $$; in any case would be keeping the current distribution system (steam) because can no way afford total system replacement Known unknowns: What does gas really cost in typical service (hard to get a straight answer...)? I think I can do the $/cft/gal/etc/Btu conversions if I had a typical $/Btu or $/cft number. Are my (one data point) capital costs in the right ballpark? Unknown unknowns: Am I missing something? Horror stories? Contractors/situations to avoid? Any and all help apprectiated. I looked into this last summer, but since the main was 800 ft away and I couldn't get enough neighbors to buy in, it died. Gas is currently slightly more expensive - maybe 10% - for straight heating. But oil is stupid cheap, and it's not gonna stay that way. In 10 years it'll be a different story. Gas has huge supplies for quite a bit longer; it has a much more stable price projection out to 25-50 years. Separate from that, with a tankless coil you have to burn fuel all summer, while a gas heater does a cheaper job of that. You hear about houses being blown across the block a couple of times a year because it's spectacular. And always caused by workers ripping up the street. You don't hear about any oil fires, and I don't know if it's because they don't happem or we just don't hear of them. The burners are actually safer than oil, or so I'm told. I was looking at converting from oil/steam to gas/forcedwater, for about $4k for the burner/boiler and another $4k for the plumbing. I could even defer the plumbing part for a few years. Plus you get to have a gas stove and gas dryer. Definitely a capital improvement. Oh -- gas burns cleaner, so you don't have to clean it out. It's also
easier on the environment. 3. Wood-fired hot water. You don't say where you are. Where I am (Northern
New York), wood is the cheapest option. And with an outdoor wood furnace,
all the mess is kept outside. Furnace cost $4K. Didn't split out cost
of hot water circulation system. LARRY HOLDS FORTH: First, you need to find out if you're in ComGAS or Boston Gas territory -- they both have regions of Somerville & Cambridge (I have the inside info this Hugh's house is in North Cambridge :-) ). Then, the gas co. could certainly tell you about rates (I'll read 'em off my bill if it's ComGas). Natural gas is effectively priced by the BTU, only they call the units "Therms", and rates are different in the winter and if you have gas heat, so be sure to get all the variables sorted out. They also sell hardware and could quote a fairly mainstream system like American Standard. One other advantage of gas is that some systems are staggeringly efficient. I presided over the installation of a Lennox PulseJet, 95% efficient gas furnace. (that one, about 100K BTU, was about $5k) I think they make boilers too. The exhaust is cool enough that it doesn't need a chimney, just PVC pipe. Check into Carrier, too. Would it make sense to get one bigger system for all three floors? It might be more efficient. I don't know. There are also some super-efficient water heaters, but be careful of those. PeterO has a rather complicated Rheem direct-vent (plastic pipe again) which has been unreliable and hard to troubelshoot because of the electronics\ . Also check the Elbow-Joints website for recommended plumbers, they may be able to recommend heating-system dealers who can help engineer different solutions. Hank English is my plumber of choice, he's an artist in pipe, and the Cambridge inspector seems to like him (when the inspector came to approve Katya's condo, he looked in and said, "Oh, it's you, Hank! Carry on."). I've got a 20-year-old gas/hot-water system & have been happy with gas. It's clean, quiet, reliable, and you don't have to remember to order it or shop around for the best price. Oil, OTOH, has to be provoked a lot (i.e. atomized) just to burn. Even a big tank of it is never going to explode, and by the time a fire ignites it I think the rest of a wood-frame house would be cinders anyway. good luck, and let us know what you choose! From wsy: Right... because gas burns cleanly enough that you can condense the water vapor out of the output (thereby realizing the equivalent of about 20% more energy). The condensate water is rather acid tho (the trace smell- ethyl mercaptan, contains sulfur and makes acid when it burns). So, don't drink the condensate. I've got a 20-year-old gas/hot-water system & have been happy with gas. It's clean, quiet, reliable, and you don't have to remember to order it or shop around for the best price. Oil, OTOH, has to be provoked a lot (i.e. atomized) just to burn. Even a big tank of it is never going to explode, and by the time a fire ignites i\ t I think the rest of a wood-frame house would be cinders anyway. You can put out a blowtorch in heating oil. The stuff is basically nonflammable
without atomization (which is why an oil-fired burner has a 2000 PSI pump
as part of the system) Our gas heating system is nice and clean and compact, but the #%*&&%$@@^*!!! Gas Company raised its prices by a factor of 4 for the winter heating season, citing "increased delivery costs" ??!!? We've been meaning to write our congressman and find out if they're really allowed to do this... Much as I hate creating extra pollution, switching to gas at the moment
seems unwise. But I'm sure in the next oil crisis there will be those
who wish they had... One other so-far-unspoken advantage to oil comes into play should you have a diesel engine to feed of whatever variety. Of course, out here in semi-middle-of-nowhere, the only centralized services come on wires, so it's somewhat moot. (Hmm, come to think of it, they also leave on trucks.) Does anyone have data handy on price comparisons between piped gas, delivered gas, and delivered oil? (And electric, too, if you like.) My possibly-ignorant impression is that oil is cheaper than propane... What are people paying for delivered oil right now? We just topped off for $0.599/gallon from our guy (M. J. Zero) in North Reading, who's about the cheapest in the area, but maybe there's something we're missing; I keep hearing about these in-town fuel coops that people pay almost nothing for, but I've never seen anything like that out here. (I keep forgetting to check Haffner's ("it kicks!") when we need oil; they also seem pretty cheap if their signs are anything to go by.) As long as I'm going on and on, I'll plug McKittrick's Industrial Supply
in Lowell, too. They have everything! As for hazards of oil, you're right, it doesn't burn easily. But it is
regarded as hazardous waste, and, I suppose, probably carcinogenic. I
mean, not that nat gas is _good_ for you. But should you spill, there
is a mighty nuisance to be had. I just replaced my oil furnace with a new oil furnace because I'm to
far out in the boonies to get gas service. The furnace I intended up getting
installed is a Burnham. In 10 or 20 years, I'll be able to tell you if
it's any good. That'd probably be Weil-Mclain. Interesting; I have heard good things
about them. So much for anecdotal evidence.
The nozzle gets sand blasted from the inside out. I now have a cartridge filter (sort of like what you'll see on a car engine) instead of an oil filter that looked like a spool of twine. Hopefully it will help preserve the noozle. An important tip: If your furnace sounds like a freight train when it
starts up, you probably need to get the nozzle replaced.
Used motor oil is considered hazardous waste, but that's mostly because
of the metals and just suspended in the oil after 3,000 miles of engine
wear. Even new, clean, heating oil is hazmat too. I learned this when contemplating what to do with an oil tank that was left in my house from some past era (given that the gas boiler was at least 20 years old!). Fortunately, a thrifty member of e-j carted away the ancient leftover
oil and fueled U-Haul trucks with it or something, and then I posted the
empty tank to reuse and it went away!
I believe that this means it's not legal to use it for on-road motor vehicle traffic. You can use non-taxed diesel for farm equipment, I believe. For those folks who are convinced that the electric grid is going to
go down as part of the new year's celebration, if they have a oil heating
system and a diesel generator, they can use the fuel oil to run the diesel
generator. The only problem is that I haven't seen a diesel generator
for under $3000, and that's a pretty steep price for an insurance policy
against Mass. Electric and friends from screwing up. :-) |
||